Sailing Shoe Reviews

[Christian Williams]

Agree. Yet still useful for going ashore, wet dinghy, wading in the shallows and such. Easy to wash the dirt off when back aboard.

 

[Slick470]

I have the unfortunate curse of being born with bad feet, notably very bad bunions inherited from my mom via genetics. This has caused me, over time, to develop a foot neuroma which when it acts up is like standing on a lit charcoal briquette. So, buying shoes, any type of shoe is a challenge because I need extra, extra wide shoes (along with special inserts provided by my podiatrist for an exorbitant amount of money) to have any sort of comfort. Buying the typical boat shoe is out of the question, they don’t sell shoes wide enough. So I need to buy on line from companies like Apex or Merrell. Currently wear Merrell for sailing and I found them comfortable and “grippy”. I also sail in sandals which I know is almost like sailing barefoot (which I also sometimes do) and, yes, sometimes I pay the price for it by taking a hit on my bunions and that’s when I do curse like a sailor.

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Those are my go-to hiking and outdoor shoes, but I'd be concerned with two things on the boat; one, I don't think they are non-marking and two, the lugs pick up lots of little rocks and my marina has a stone parking lot.

Several of the boats I race on have shore shoes and boat shoe rules, so my sailing shoes stay in my bag and I wear sandals ashore. Usually those get kicked off on the slip finger and I change onto the boat shoes onboard. I'm a bit less strict with my own boat, but it's not a bad method. I usually change out of my shore shoes and try to only use my boat shoes on board or on the dock.

 

[Gaviate]

Your boat, Your rules.

Ohh Yeah, I love that phrase!! I have crewed on other's boats and always show up in a pair of slip-on skechers. Very light weight and very good grip, no silly strings to come untied.
Flip flops are like those crocs, slippery when wet, which is how I came to the barefoot rule!

 

[ConchyDug]

For the Adidas Terrex fans, Vans has put out the MTE UltraRange EXO shoes that seem similar so far, at least on the grip side. They don't drain as well but you can still walk on walls like spiderman with the grip. They are similar to Zhik shoes as well.

 

[goldenstate]

Astral Loyak, water shedding, tremendous grip, but soles harden up after a season.